Imagine you are lying on your back, strapped into a chair, with your knees bent in front of you. You feel your heart beating with excitement as you hear a voice on the earphone inside your helmet counting down slowly,
"Three, two, one," Then, beneath you, a deep rumble start as rocket fuel ignites in the huge engines. You feel a lurch1 as the docking mechanisms let go, and your rocket begins to rise.
This is the moment Mae Jemison has been waiting and working for since 1987. The first African-American female astronaut-in-training at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)2, Jemison is scheduled to "fly" in September 1992. She is to serve as a specialist on Spacelab—J, a joint Japanese-American research project.
Mae Jemison was thirty-three when she was selected for NASA's astronaut training program. Astronaut candidates must have science degree. They must be fit and healthy with normal blood pressure and good eyesight. They must stand between five feet and six feet four inches tall. They must complete a one-year training program that includes water-survival lessons and weightless walks in a huge antigravity tank.
On the 1991 mission, astronaut Jemison says that her "responsibility are to be familiar with the shuttle and how it operates, to do the experiments once you get into rabbit, to help launch the payloads3 or satellites, and also to do extra-vehicular activities, or space walks. "
How did Mae Jemison grow up to become such a special person?
Science—especially astronomy—fascinated her from childhood.
She also had a strong desire to help other people. Born in Ala bama, but raised in Chicago, she studied chemical engineering and African-American culture and history at Stanford University. To help others, she decided to become a doctor. While still a medical student, she went to Cuba and Kenya on study trips, then worked in a refugee4 camp in Thailand. She spent three years in West Africa as a doctor with the Peace Corps. When Dr. Jemison finally returned to the United States, she settled in California to practice medicine. And it was then that she decided to reach for the stars.
Mae Jemison's first application to NASA was not successful.
Then, in 1986, the Challenger space shuttle exploded, killing all
aboard5. NASA did not take in any new astronauts for about a year. When it finally reopened its application process, Mae Jemison was ready, and so was NASA. After being selected as a minority astronaut, Mae Jemison received a good deal of attention from newspaper and television. She explained to reporters that the space program and other fields in high technology offer promising careers for African-Americans and other minorities who study hard and make the most of their opportunities6.